Railroad box cars have been in use for many years transporting a wide variety of cargo. Box cars are recognized as being primarily useful when the cargo can be loaded directly in the car from a siding adjacent its production without any prior shipping involving substantial labor in loading and unloading the goods, as from a truck. The same applies at the shipping destination.
In recent years it has been found increasingly efficient to ship cargo in large containers by sea, railroad and highway. Shipping in this manner avoids unpacking the cargo between the time the container is packed by the shipper and received by the customer thereby avoiding extra labor, avoiding breakage and theft in handling and reducing delivery time. These benefits are realized because the containers are sized and shaped to be carried by highway trucks and trailers, special railroad cars and container carrying ships.
One type of railroad car which is particularly suitable for carrying containers is referred to as a well car. Such a car has side and end walls and a partial or full floor thereby defining a well or recessed space into which one or more containers can be longitudinally positioned. The container sides are generally at least two to three times higher than the depth of the well space. Additionally, the containers can be double stacked when desired to increase the shipping load.
Well cars of the described type suitable for carrying containers, and also highway trailers, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,091,742; 4,400,121; and 4,456,413.
The width of the containers placed in the well is usually either eight feet or eight feet six inches. Accordingly, the well width must be slightly larger than eight feet six inches to accommodate the widest container. However, an eight feet wide container is difficult to center in such an oversized well. Even when initially centered accurately, rocking of the car in transit can cause the container to shift to one side of the car causing it to tilt. This could place the car in an unsafe condition and perhaps cause an accident. Also, the container cargo could be damaged as a result of the unbalanced condition of the load. There is accordingly a need for an improved well car which can receive and securely maintain centered therein containers having two different widths with one being considerably narrower than the well width required to receive the larger container.